MSBA Application Essay
Explain what you hope to learn in the MS-Business Analytics program and the impact you anticipate it will have on your career.
My choice fell to the University of Arizona because it attracted me by the opportunities it offered. W.P. Carey School of Business has numerous programs, including Master of Science in Business Analytics. I will be able to broaden my mind as a basis for successful business activity. The MS-BA program is a unique opportunity for deepening quantitative and analytical skills in the field of business and entrepreneurship. Such crucial skills as managing data which becomes more and more complex and deriving value from this big data flows may help project and direct business processes. Modeling and analyzing of data may add to the competitive advantage of the business and allow worldwide competition.
Skills and knowledge to be gained at the college open many career options and new learning perspectives for me. The MS-BA program is designed for meeting the demand for professionals in the emerging “Internet of Things” by enriching the students’ knowledge with specific and concrete information. Such deep and comprehensive approach will allow me to reach the heights on the analytic career ladder. I believe that proceeding with my education in America will allow me to be as cosmopolite as possible because of its mixture of many cultures, ethnics and religions. This will contribute to my future career because of excellent communication skills and wonderful experience-sharing among the participants of the program.
At W.P. Carey, our students bring diverse talents and expertise to the student culture and community. What unique attributes will you contribute to this environment?
In my opinion, one of the greatest contributions to students’ development that the education setting can provide is the possibility to learn new things from the peers of different countries, cultures and with various fields of expertise. I believe that my skills and talents would be also useful for our future student community. Being an international student, I can provide others with some peculiarities regarding business in China as well as draw their attention to the benefits and drawbacks of the Chinese approach to business.
I have a strong belief that my experience and leadership skills can be of exceptional benefit for the learning environment. I believe that I have all the potential to turn learning process into a wonderful adventure for everybody in my group. My organizational and management skills coupled with respective experience may encourage others to work in teams. Also, I have perfect communication skills that allowed me to work with various people. I believe I can provide nice and friendly environment for students. My analytical skills, experience with technique and experience in various fields also enable me to enrich talents and expertise of other students. Due to my projects, I have insights in agriculture education as well as some data analytics. I believe that knowledge in various areas may contribute to the quality of analyses I will be supposed to complete.
Share with us a time when you had to employ quantitative methods to solve a problem. Describe your thought process and the end result.
Every person uses quantitative methods every day and very often. Sometimes one just does not pay attention to what methods and processes he or she involves. The most obvious event when I used quantitative methods was when I served as an event planner for Greenland Group in Shanghai, China.
I was responsible for the meetings with clients and discussing the details and specifications of their events. Accordingly, I was supposed to announce estimated cost of the event for them, which involved calculations and estimations of various elements necessary for the events. This required estimated knowledge of prices and services; therefore, I applied my analytical and professional skills as well in order to decrease the costs, but make the event the way it is expected by the client. I also was supposed to eliminate all discrepancies and submit clear and well-calculated expense budget to the clients. I was never wrong in my calculations. Mostly, the end result, namely the figure of final expenditure, almost coincided with my estimations.
Therefore, I had a good record in Greenland Group, because the clients were satisfied. Of course, I have other examples of using quantitative methods because they are applied everywhere, but this company’s experience represents their necessity and usefulness in full.
If your academic and/or professional experience does not align with the current class profile, what have you done to prepare for a demanding graduate degree program?
My educational background has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to apply for the MS-BA. My major is economics and I am a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. Therefore, I consider my academic experience to be close to the current class profile. Nevertheless, I performed database research project for my Data Analytics and Modeling class in order to be more aware regarding the business analytics. I had a team leader role, and we tried to manage a large data set by developing a regression analysis and presenting its results in a concise way.
My professional experience may lack some skills in the business analytics in particular, but I tried myself in those occupations that were related to data analysis and management. Being a technical assistant at Nanjing University, I worked with hardware and software, as well as with huge amount of data. Greenland Group in Shanghai taught me everything about calculations and estimations in practice. At the University of Arizona, I served as a peer integrator that allowed me to develop my leadership skills that can also be useful in the business field.
My education background suits the current program more than my professional one. However, I expect that it is the MS-BA that will create opportunities for my professional career to advance.
Please provide any additional information you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee.
I would like to point out that I am extremely diligent and hardworking person. I always try to find inspiration in everything I do, and that is why I often succeed in my work. A few years ago I realized that business field of education is my vocation and I should continue this way. One of the conditions for an excellent specialist in this field is to know how to deal with data and what it means.
At the same time I also look for a new experience that is not limited to my area of scientific interests. I believe that every new thing that I do may reflect in lots of benefits in the future. Also, I hope that the international community at the University of Arizona will provide me with knowledge of different approaches to business. I long for such awareness and understanding. I hope that career in the field of Business Analytics will be as exciting as I imagine my learning.
